


Among the Stars

by MournfulSeverity



Series: Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Grief/Mourning, Mother-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MournfulSeverity/pseuds/MournfulSeverity
Summary: His history lay amongst the stars, his name, his family, his most precious memories of his mother. Now, when Scorpius seems to need her most, it is in the stars that he finds her again.
Series: Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685365
Kudos: 1





	Among the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing
> 
> Inspiration for this story came from When it Rains by iNiGmA. (Check it out, it is a brilliant piece of work).
> 
> QLFC required info found at the bottom.
> 
> Thanks to my Beta, OBFP

The stars glittered around him, specks of brilliant white scattered across an endless sea of black. Scorpius searched the sky, picking out the constellations his Mum had taught him so many years ago. He sought out one in particular, one star that seemed to shine brighter than the rest.

" _You see that, there?" Astoria asked, her arm stretching out towards the night sky._

_Scorpius' gaze followed her finger, resting on the line of stars that meant nothing to him. He shook his head._

" _There," she said again, "the star that seems so much bigger than others beside it. So much prettier." Astoria smiled, her lips pulling upwards as she fell into a distant memory that Scorpius knew nothing of, but the look of contentment on her face made him smile too._

" _That's Antares. It's the heart of the constellation Scorpius. It's the heart of_ you _, just like you're the heart of me."_

The memory faded and Scorpius wiped his palm across his cheek, drying the single tear that had escaped, betraying his agony as it ran down his face. He sniffed, grateful that he was alone.

He pulled his knees toward his chest, hoping that the action would hold him together, that if he held himself tight enough he wouldn't shatter completely.

" _You're named after the stars, just like your father and I."_

His mum's voice seemed so distant, the memories of her warped by time until he wasn't sure he recognized them anymore. Wasn't sure that they were real at all. But, he remembered every part of her. He remembered how she'd told him of the Draco constellation, of how the Malfoy and Black lineage was spelled out in space. She had told him of her own name, how it had originated from the goddess of falling stars, Asteria, how her very own falling star had been his father and after so many years of trying, Scorpius himself.

And he felt, now, like that falling star, like _hers._ He felt himself tumbling downwards into a pit of unwelcoming darkness, unlike that of the sky at all, This was a darkness that devoured him, that cut out any sliver of the moon or glimmer of the constellations. It was a darkness that he wasn't sure how to fight his way out of. A darkness that seemed worse as the days stretched on, as the day that he would leave this place, leave Hogwarts for good had drawn nearer.

Four years. That's how long she would be gone this summer. He would reach four years without her in just a matter of days, but it didn't feel like that at all.

While he was at Hogwarts he could pretend. He could pretend that those summer weeks and occasional holidays he spent at home were little more than miscommunication. He could pretend that his Mum had taken a holiday of her own, visiting her sister, his Grandad, going _anywhere_ that wasn't home. Scorpius could ignore the signs that that wasn't true, could ignore the few pictures that hung around the house of her now, the no longer lingering smell of her perfume that before had seemed to permeate every surface. The scent that had spelled out home, but that had been lost alongside her.

This pretending lasted only two months before he was back at Hogwarts again, his thoughts occupied by classes and magic, never anything more significant. Hogwarts, where even if his mum had been alive, he wouldn't have seen her anyway. It was those thoughts that had allowed him to survive and that now destroyed him most because all that was left now was home.

Tomorrow he would board the express for a final time, would see his father – alone – on the platform waiting for him. And that is when his life without her would truly begin.

He wasn't ready.

" _I'm sick, Scorp, and this time I don't think I'll be getting better." Astoria reached out from beneath the covers of her bed, her frail fingers moving to brush across his cheek._

 _Scorpius shook his head. He'd seen his mum like this before, her skin pallid and her frame thin. There had been so many days, weeks,_ months _where she had been trapped in bed, waiting for the pain and illness that pulled her under to pass. It always had before._

" _No," he shook his head again, his voice wavering in a way that embarrassed him. "No, you_ have _to get better. You can't leave me, Mum." He felt his words stop inside his throat, the edges of them too painful for him to say. Too painful, because it meant that they were real. "I… I need you." He choked, his voice breaking into a sob as his shoulders trembled._

_His mum's grip tightened on his arm, pulling him closer towards her. He felt her lips press gently into his hair, heard a whispering of love. "I'll always be here, my little star. You know where to find me."_

His vision blurred, the light from the stars above him streaking across his vision, all of it fading into a shade of midnight blue. Blue, that reminded him of her, of the color of her eyes that had shown just the same as the stars above him.

He blinked away the tears, needing clarity now more than ever. Needing her. His eyes wandered the night sky, landing along the lines of Scorpius immediately. Landing, on Antares. If ever he wished to steal a piece of the night sky, it was now.

He knew where she had gone, where she had always been. Their heart was the same, resting in the constellation that bore his name, shimmering when he needed to see it the most. He sniffed again, the sob that had built in his throat beginning to dim.

He had been so hesitant to leave Hogwarts, to leave behind the Astronomy Tower where he had searched the night sky for her so many times, where he searched for her now. But, he realized, as the sky stretched out into the horizon, that it would always be there. Hogwarts Castle or Malfoy Manor, Antares was never far. And neither was she.

**Author's Note:**

> Story Title/Link: Among the Stars
> 
> Team: Pride of Portree
> 
> Position: Beater 1 - Write about a character who makes little impact on society or the world. (I represented this through Astoria who made little impact on society, but was the whole world to her son).
> 
> Main prompt: Stargazing
> 
> Other prompts: Astronomy Tower, Midnight Blue
> 
> Wordcount: 1031
> 
> Summary: His history lay amongst the stars, his name, his family, his most precious memories of his mother. Now, when Scorpius seems to need her most, it is in the stars that he finds her again.


End file.
